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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27906094">Toy Stores and Small Dates</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sczrhead/pseuds/sczrhead'>sczrhead</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>25 Days of FicMas 2020 [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>25 days of ficmas, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, Blaise Zabini is a Little Shit, M/M, POV Harry Potter, Short &amp; Sweet, Tall Draco Malfoy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:20:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,362</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27906094</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sczrhead/pseuds/sczrhead</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt 3: I work at a toy store and you keep coming in and walking right back out.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>25 Days of FicMas 2020 [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2037517</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>56</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Toy Stores and Small Dates</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>     Poor sixteen year old Harry had gotten a job for the holiday season at a toy store. They were hiring extra hands because the season always brings in more work than what the usual staff can handle. So Harry took up the job because now that he was sixteen his aunt and uncle decided that he should be pulling his weight, and showing responsibility, and that simply meant that they weren’t going to provide him with anything anymore. So he needed to get a job before he ended up starving or losing the second bedroom to the cupboard again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>     So that’s how he ended up working at some weird toy store in his mall near Private Drive. It was very dull work, and it didn’t offer much stimulation at all unless you count constant either screaming, laughing, or crying as such, but Harry would probably label that as overstimulation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>    It was nearing the end of November and the company was already insistent on putting up holiday decorations and playing the same five holiday songs just sung by different people the entire day. Harry was working at the front register when he started to notice something rather strange. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>     There was a rather tall looking blonde boy who looked around the same age as Harry who kept walking in, looking at the items they had on display in the front and then leaving after not even considering buying anything. Harry watched the boy do this a few more times, trying to get a good description of him, in case he does something, right now there wasn’t anything necessarily wrong with his behavior, it was just kind of weird. Harry began writing down his description of the boy on a notepad, just in case. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <em>
    <span>He is tall, maybe about four or five inches taller than me. He is really pale, with blonde hair. It is shorter on the sides and a bit longer on top. He’s also dressed rather posh looking, probably comes from good money. He is rather attractive looking.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <span>“You think my friend is attractive?” Harry heard a rather deep voice say. He looked up and there was an even taller boy in front of him. This boy however was quite dark, and while definitely not his type, his type was actually more like this guy's apparent friend, he was also rather attractive.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>     “Uh, who are you?” asked Harry, he didn’t really want to answer the bloke’s question. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>     “Blaise Zabini pleased to meet you.” Blaise stuck out his hand for Harry to shake. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>     Harry took his hand, rather hesitantly, “Uh Harry Potter, may I ask why your “friend” keeps coming into my store, and not doing much more than looking around?” he asked, also putting air quotes around friend. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>     Blaise just chuckled, “He thinks that you are also </span>
  <em>
    <span>rather attractive looking,</span>
  </em>
  <span>” he said, emphasizing the repeated phrasing, “but he’s a little nervous to talk to you. We’ve been pushing him to come in, that’s why he has, but he hasn’t gotten to the talking to you bit. So we gave up and decided to send well, me, in to do his dirty work.” he smiled down at Harry. </span>
</p><p><span>     He was actually rather shocked. That guy found </span><em><span>him</span></em> <span>attractive? That’s surprising indeed, well if he wants to talk to me, then he should, Harry thought to himself. “Alright, Blaise. You can tell this friend of yours-”</span></p><p>
  <span>    “His name's Draco, by the way,” Blaise interrupted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>    “Alright, you can tell Draco that if he wants any response, he’s going to have to come and talk to me, otherwise, I guess he’ll never know,” Harry said, and then shooed Blaise off without another word. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>     Blaise just smiled and left the store to go find his friend and presumably send him in to come to talk to Harry.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>     Harry waited for a while actually, for the blonde boy, Draco, to come back in. While he was helping customers check out his eyes kept drifting back to the door, where he would hopefully walk in. When Harry’s manager came by to tell him that he was good to go on break, Harry had given up all hope for seeing Draco again, he figured it was some elaborate joke or something and only hoped he didn’t do anything too embarrassing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>     He went to the back to take off his hat that had the store’s logo and then went back out to go stop by one of the restaurants or cafes in the mall for his lunch break. As he was walking out an arm caught him. He turned to the person who stopped him, shocked and confused, only to find Draco looking at him and grinning. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>    “I was going to go in there and talk to you like Blaise told me you wanted me to but I came in and you weren’t at the register. So I assumed you were either moved to a different workspace or you would be going on break soon. So I decided to gamble with that. And now that you are going on break, what would you say, if I asked to take you out on a fifteen minute date?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>   Harry smiled, “Well I’d be sad that it would only be fifteen minutes, given that my break is actually thirty. Do you really only want to take up half my break?” he asked, grinning up at Draco. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>    Draco blushed and stammered, “Well I mean, if you want, I can definitely have a date uh with you, for thirty minutes, uh if that’s what you want of course.” Harry smiled, this was obviously not a part of his rehearsed script he thought. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>    “Well I’m glad you want to spend the full thirty minutes with me, so where are you taking me then?” Harry asked, and he began walking to the food court, stealing Draco’s hand as well. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>    “Oh uh well, I wasn’t sure what you wanted, I figured you could bring us to wherever you were thinking of having your lunch, and then I could pay for you if you’d like,” he said, flushing at Harry taking his hand but quickly catching up to him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>    “Well, I was thinking of Bom Bon, what do you say?” he asked, hoping that it was actually okay with him, he didn’t want Draco to dislike the food. Especially if it was going to be their first date, Harry thought smiling to himself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>     Draco visibly got more excited, “Yes! I love that place! It's my favorite!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>     Harry and Draco walked to the food court, talking about whatever came to mind really, there were no lapses in conversation, it all seemed to come out easily, and their presences seemed to mesh well together. When they got to the cafe Harry and Draco both ordered their respective meals and just as Draco promised, he did pay “with Daddy’s money” he told Harry, rolling his eyes. He was visibly a lot more comfortable. Their date progressed much the same, casually discussing anything they can. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>     When Harry’s break ended and Draco brought him back to the store, he returned to a shy and sheepish composure. Harry smiled, finding it quite enduring, “Thank you, for the date Draco. You should thank Blaise too, for pushing you to talk to me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>    Draco rolled his eyes at the mention of his friend, “Yeah I guess. So do I have to continue to come to the mall to see you? Or could I maybe have an hour long date next time?” he asked, smiling at Harry. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>    Harry smiled back and pulled out a small piece of paper and a pen from his pockets and wrote down his number, “Let’s have a movie date, just don’t be scared to talk to me this time. I gotta get back to work. But I hope to see you soon of course,” Harry handed him the piece of paper and gave Draco a quick bold kiss on the cheek and then hurried back into his store to get his uniform hat back on. For the rest of his shift he was thinking about the short and sweet date he had with Draco and how much he couldn’t wait until the next one. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for reading! I actually finished this and was going to post this last night but didn't. No excuses, I just didn't. But here it is!<br/>If you would like any updates on my 25 days of Ficmas you can follow my tumblr sczrhead.tumblr.com. </p><p>Once again, thank you for reading and leave any comments and kudos if you enjoyed it!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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